Do I need an appraisal to appeal my property taxes?

Not always. A paid, one-house appraisal is a different product from the county's mass appraisal. Some files include a retail report. Many do not. Local rules decide whether one is expected. There is no universal requirement to buy one before a filing.

Is a bank appraisal the same as the county's assessed value?

No. A bank appraisal is a one-house opinion written for a loan. The assessed value is the output of a group process on a tax roll. IAAO keeps those two methods in separate standards and separate glossary entries.

Will a property tax appeal be rejected without an appraisal?

Not as a universal rule. Some boards are used to seeing a paid report. Others hear cases that never had one. The filing is a request about the printed value. A retail appraisal is optional machinery, not the definition of the appeal.

Do I Need an Appraisal for My Property Tax Appeal? | FairAppeal

In short

A paid, one-house appraisal is not always required to file a property tax appeal. The myth that a board will not open a file without one is sturdier than the actual rule. Counties already have a valuation on the roll. A bank-style write-up is a different product, and it is not the admission ticket in every jurisdiction.

Look up if you are overpaying.

Is an appraisal required for a property tax appeal?

The IAAO glossary defines an appraisal as the act or process of developing an opinion of value. That is the one-house product a lender orders. Mass appraisal, in IAAO's Standard on Mass Appraisal, is the group process that already produced the number on the notice. A formal appeal asks a separate body to look at that printed number. Some owners arrive with a paid report. Many files open without one. Local rules decide whether a report is expected. There is no universal "bring an appraisal or stay home" switch.

Does a property tax appeal need a bank appraisal?

No. A refinance packet is not the price of admission. The question is whether the printed value is the right fight, not whether a bound report is in the folder. FairAppeal reviews your property and decides whether to file. The Fair Appeal review does not start by sending the owner out for a retail appraisal.

Related reading: what mass appraisal is and the property tax glossary.